200

Candidates complete 25 hours of field experience practice in a special education setting.  This field experience will focus on developing candidates’ knowledge and skills related to identifying the support needs of students with disabilities and planning for environmental, instructional and other support needs. In addition to their field work, candidates meet on campus with their University supervisor to further their knowledge and development related to the focus of this field experience. The mentor teacher and University supervisor will conduct performance assessments of the candidate during this experience.

This course covers the development of receptive and expressive skills in sign language and fingerspelling. Manual communication skills that are used in educational and social settings are emphasized. Deaf culture and community characteristics are discussed.

This course is designed to follow-up and expand on those signs taught in Sign Language 1. Candidates are expected (following review) to be able to fluently use fingerspelling, numbers and other basic signs as well as demonstrate a certain level of precision and fluency. Extensions of deaf culture and school issues will be covered.

This course is designed to provide participants with a strong knowledge base in developmental theories of behavior, language and learning that have shaped current practices in K-12 public and private schools.  In addition to exploring current research on cognition and learning, course participants will examine philosophy-based, psychology-based and progressive learning theories that have influenced current educational practices.  Course participants will also examine the potential of education through alternate theoretical frameworks, such as critical theory and feminist theory.

This course provides participants with an understanding of the ways in which disability studies can inform current educational policies, practices and curriculum design. Participants will investigate both theoretical and practical aspects of the field of disability studies in education - including social, cultural and historical policies and philosophies - and strategies for addressing the biases inherent in many of these influences. Course topics include issues such as changing conceptions of disability, the lingering impacts of eugenics and institutionalization, the promise and progress of the disability rights movement, disability law and policy, personal and family narratives, the portrayal and inclusion of individuals with diverse abilities in the modern media, and, the promotion of least restrictive attitudes in inclusive education/classrooms.